Renta Corp

United Artists Communications will buy half an interest in the 431-screen Commonwealth Theater chain in a joint venture with the chain's new owner, Renta Corp., a Spanish affiliate of Los Angeles-based Cannon Group. United Artists Communications, a Denver holding company with major interests in cable-television systems as well as theaters, announced Wednesday that it "committed up to $40 million to the joint venture."

Giancarlo Parretti, the fast-rising Hollywood movie mogul who has admitted that he rarely watches films himself, underscored the point at the Cannes Film Festival a couple of years ago. Encountering actor-director Clint Eastwood and his agent at a party, Parretti said: "Mr. Eastwood, I've always admired your work." The problem was that he was speaking to the agent. Those types of blunders have helped shape Parretti's reputation as a consummate outsider.